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Asked about asylum seekers who have committed major crimes, Ms O'Brien said the government had various ways of removing people from the country, including charter flights.

She argued the business risk for private companies involved was simply too high.

Ms O'Brien is due to meet with Qantas executives on Friday to discuss the issue, but the airline has already indicated it is unlikely to shift its position.

"We appreciate that this is a sensitive issue. The government and courts are best placed to make decisions on complex immigration matters, not airlines," a Qantas spokesman said in a statement.

If the national carrier digs its heels in, Ms O'Brien intends to enlist help from the airline's shareholders to launch formal action at the company's annual general meeting.

The ACCR will also be seeking a meeting with Virgin Australia.

"Virgin Australia works with a number of government organisations to transport passengers for a range of reasons," a spokeswoman for the airline said.

"Virgin Australia complies with Australian immigration law and will continue to take advice on this matter from the relevant authorities."

The open letter, signed by businesswoman Janet Holmes a Court and former Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, comes after several airlines in the US and Britain agreed to refuse deportation orders.

The simmering issue shot to prominence in recent weeks after footage of a woman disrupting a flight carrying an asylum seeker being deported from Sweden went viral online.

The separation of immigrant children from their parents in the United States has also shone light on the controversial practice.

Advocates are hopeful that heaping pressure on airlines will bear similar results to campaigns against detention contractor Transfield, which cut ties with Australia's offshore immigration centres after a backlash from investors.